US President Donald Trump's aide Peter Navarro has targeted tech billionaire Elon Musk over what he describes as the "cesspool" of X, calling the social media platform a "breeding ground for the very dark forces".
The senior trade adviser has urged the X owner to take responsibility for violent rhetoric circulating on the platform after a Los Angeles teacher openly called for killings. The high school teacher wrote about targeting "far-right a**holes", suggesting they deserved to die and implying that one had already been killed.
Musk reacted on X, writing, "We must fight back or be murdered."
In response, Peter Navarro said Musk should start by addressing the issues on his social media platform.
"My friend Elon Musk," he began. "How about you start fighting back by cleaning up the cesspool otherwise known as X. No more anonymous posts. No more foreigners swarming your platform and polluting our political discourse. X has become a breeding ground and grooming academy for the very dark forces. You wanna fight back. Physician, heal itself. Elon, heal X."
This followed heightened tensions after the shooting death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Elon Musk has condemned online reactions celebrating the violence, labelling those praising it as evil and warning that threats to individuals could escalate if left unchecked. In a post calling for Kirk's death, Musk reacted saying, "Either we fight back or they will kill us."
Navarro has also recently intensified his criticism of Musk over X's fact-checking system. After Navarro posted claims accusing India of profiteering from Russian oil imports, the platform flagged his post, correcting him and saying that India's purchases were for energy security and did not violate international law.
Peter Navarro dismissed the fact-check as "crap" and accused Musk of allowing propaganda on the platform.
Musk defended X's Community Notes system, saying that it corrects all posts without exception and that the data and code behind it are open source, with additional verification from the AI tool Grok.
Earlier this year, Navarro criticised Musk's stance on tariffs, suggesting that the billionaire prioritised his business interests. Musk responded, calling Navarro a "moron" and "dumber than a sack of bricks."
